by Joanie Connell | Aug 28, 2025 | Blog, Leadership, Managing Change, Technical Leaders
In my work consulting to technical leaders, I often observe that while technology may be advancing exponentially, the human side of work remains as essential and as complex as ever. Today’s STEM leaders, in pharmaceuticals, tech, and healthcare, for example, are...
by Joanie Connell | Jul 23, 2025 | Emotional Intelligence, Leadership, Technical Leaders
I recently attended a training by David Caruso, one of the preeminent researchers of Emotional Intelligence and co-author of the highly regarded MSCEIT (Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test) assessment instrument. In the training, he discussed the...
by Joanie Connell | Jul 21, 2023 | Blog, Influencing, Leadership, Technical Leaders
No matter where you are in the organization, it is important to be able to influence people. Take for example, David, a team leader in a technology company who was tasked with leading a cross-functional team to develop a new software product. David didn’t have direct...
by Joanie Connell | Jun 8, 2023 | Blog, Coaching and Mentoring, Remote Management, Technical Leaders
Managers sometimes hesitate to give feedback to employees because they fear that their feedback may be perceived as biased or unfair. They might struggle with how to provide feedback that is objective and equal for all employees. Undeniably, delivering feedback...
by Joanie Connell | Feb 25, 2022 | Communication, Technical Leaders
Technical leaders often tell me that they are told they need to learn how to communicate with non-technical people outside of their teams, but the reverse is not true. Non-technical people are rarely told they need to learn how to communicate with technical people....
by Joanie Connell | Sep 13, 2018 | Blog, Emotional Intelligence, Technical Leaders
What’s negative one squared (-12)? If you learned math in school before 2009, you probably said “1.” If you learned math once the Common Core was implemented, you would say the answer is “-1.” A friend of mine spent an entire 4-day weekend visit with...
